


Colours

by nonna



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-23 09:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4872202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonna/pseuds/nonna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Steve/Tony soulmate AU inspired by Halsey's "Colors".</p><p>find me on tumblr! my username is buckybernes</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this will not be heavy with plot. It mainly follows the song. Enjoy!

_(gorgeous work for the fic by[nefertitinoir](http://nefertitinoir.tumblr.com/) on tumblr)_

Everything is blue.

His arc reactor. His technology. Jarvis.

Of course, Tony can see some other colours, too. He can see gold, black and maroon.

It is hard to describe.

You learn to see new colours upon specific experiences. Both good and bad ones. It was rare, though. The world was filled with _so many_ colours, and each person had one that was specific to them. Sure, some people had similar colours, but they were never the exact same shade.

Tony's colour was an eccentric blue. The only people who saw it were Pepper, Rhodey and Howard. Pepper and Rhodey had gasped, marvelled at the beauty of the colour. Howard did not like it.

In return, Tony gained the ability to see their colours; Pepper's was a golden pink, Rhodey's was a strange shade of purple and maroon. Howard's was dark green, almost black.

Colours did not emerge at first sight. They would develop along with the relationships. Tony never saw Pepper's colour until he came back from Afghanistan. He saw Rhodey's nearly a year after they met in school.

The exception was, as people theorized, soul mates.

You are supposed to see a new colour as soon as you meet your soulmate. Some people said that they saw a new colour upon meeting a stranger, passing by--and never having the chance to speak to them. Others claimed they could _feel_ the colours, that they gave them a new sensation. 

They claimed that your soulmate could change your colour. They even claimed that they could make you see _all_ colours.

For the most part, Tony did not give a shit about soul mates.

Because really, who cares? What if your soul mate _had_ randomly passed by you. Why should you dwell over it? To Tony, seeing colours of people who mean a lot to him--like a Rhodey and Pepper--is much more special. You have to earn that. There's a sense of accomplishment that accompanies the thought.

So when SHIELD calls him in for some Avengers project, Tony tries to act nonchalant about the sudden, blazing, red he sees. It's hard to miss, really. Such a warm colour, yet so vibrant. So loud.

He can almost hear it.

But Tony doesn't care. Right? Why should he? 

Natasha's hair is a blazing red. He sees it now; it suits her better than the golden pink. But she is not his soul mate. He would know, he had seen her before, when she infiltrated Stark Industries and did her report on him.

It can't be Bruce, either. Bruce comes off as a dark green, more calm than Howard's. Maybe one day, Tony will be able to see his true colour.

Could be Barton. Or Rogers. Or Thor.

Or any of the agents in the damn room.

Which is, again, why Tony doesn't dwell on it.

Until Rogers speaks up. "Man in a suit of armour, take that away, what are you?"

And all Tony can feel is _red_.

It doesn't make any sense.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." He responds, shaking off the strange sensation. He tries to work on bringing the colours back to focus; everything is _red._ Slowly, blue starts to creep back in, and tints of the other colours come back over time.

Rogers scoffs, looks away.

They don't speak again for the rest of the day. 

After a while, Natasha approaches Tony quietly. "Hey," she says, "are you sure you can do this? You're a civilian, after all. We can't force you to do this."

"Seriously, this hair colour suits you a lot better." Tony notes. "You give off more scary vibes this way. But don't worry, sugar, I can handle this. All we have to do is immobilize a God. Please, that's simple."

But Natasha doesn't respond. She does not even appear to be irritated by his attitude, as she normally would. Instead, she looks at him thoughtfully. "My hair colour?"

"Yeah, you got a new colour blazing there." Tony says. He pulls up the colour chart, scrolls through it. "Aha! It's called red. #F51111."

The colour chart worked as a database. There were few people who had the power to see _all_ colours. They put together the database, grouping similar shades under a generic colour name, then labelling them in more detail as they worked through the shades.

Natasha raises an eyebrow. "Since when can you see red?"

"Since today. You should see yourself. It really suits you."

"My hair is red." Natasha says. "I can see red. But it is an orange red; the shade is #D14212."

"Huh," Tony muses. "Is that your colour?"

Natasha nods. "Yours?"

"#5AE7F1. It's grouped under blue." Tony shows her the chart. 

Natasha shakes her head. "I have never seen blue. Anyway, who's the red? You said you saw it today."

"I'm not sure," Tony admits.

Natasha gets it.

She drops the subject. "Well, if you want to drop the mission, let us know. Don't feel obliged to join." She says instead, before walking away.

And Tony forgets about the colour. For a while, anyway. He's soon called out to the field. He has to join Rogers in fighting against Thor's mad brother.

Loki is vibrant. He is a mix of bright gold, dark green, and blazing blue. 

Roger's shield, Tony notices, has red. It is composed of circles of white, blue, and red, with a white star in the centre.

Tony also notices that the American flag, high above on the flagpole, has red.

Huh.

They fight the God of Mischeif. He's tough, Tony has to admit. He ends up throwing Rogers onto Tony, causing both of them to plummet into the ground.

Tony's suit changes colour.

It becomes _red_ and gold.

His suit was white and gold. The gold from Pepper, and the white--well, everyone can see white. 

Rogers glances at the suit, eyebrows furrowed. He opens his mouth to speak, but Loki attacks again and he rolls over, shielding himself.

Tony pushes himself up, focusing on the battle at hand.

The fight finishes when Loki disappears, leaving them bewildered. 

Once they’re back at the hellicarrier, Tony grabs himself a bottle of liquor. Who knew they had alcohol in SHIELD?

“Can you not take anything seriously?” Steve asks angrily. 

Tony looks up, surprised. He looks down at the bottle in his hands and laughs. “Is this about the fact that I’m drinking alcohol? I can get shit done, even when I have some alcohol in my system.”

“I’m surprised you made it this far. Your habits, they…” Steve looks more concerned now. “They’re bad. You know, your father was never like this. Howard was a happy man, always looking forward to the future, always focusing on the task at hand.”

It hurts.

It’s _red_. And it _hurts_.

“You knew a different Howard than I did. That man loved to smile at the cameras, on tv shows. He loved to talk about you. But to me, he was _dark._ He was…” Tony pauses, clenching his jaw. “You don’t know shit.”

“Howard was not dark.” Steve says. He looks confused. “Howard was a bright green. He made the world brighter.”

“Not my world.”

Steve doesn’t know how to respond to that. He remains silent.

Natasha speaks up instead. “When did you change the colour of your suit?”

Tony shrugs.

When they locate Loki again, he’s opened a wormhole through the sky.  

When he sees the missile coming at New York, Steve’s voice echoes in his head, _You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you_.

But Tony is. He won’t let people die.

He calls Pepper. She doesn’t answer.

The wormhole is getting closer. 

Everything becomes grey.

He could see the colours disappear slowly, fading away. There were no more _colours_. Only grey, black and white. 

He’d had dreams, when he was a child. He dreamed of creating peace. Of becoming successful. Of having a family of his own. Of being loved.

The dreams faded to grey.

They would never come true.

And Tony lets it go. Because now he is in space. Endless, colourless, space.

Then he wakes up.

And he sees a new colour.

Purple.

The sky is lilac. 

_He_ is no longer blue. He’s purple.

“Tony?”

Tony looks over to his left. Steve is looking down at him, worried. His hand is on Tony’s shoulder, atop the armour. When did Steve come out to space?

“Tony, are you alright?”

His hair begins to turn gold. His eyes blue. Tony looks around weakly. 

New colours. 

He can see everything.

“It’s beautiful.” He whispers. Steve looks up, too. He seems puzzled. “Can you not see it?” Tony asks.

Steve shakes his head. “See what?”

“The _colours_.” Tony presses. He tries to sit up. “They’re everywhere.”

“You see all the colours?” It’s Barton.

Tony nods. “Can’t you?”

Steve chuckles. “I can only see red––which is my colour, yellow,brown and green. I saw blue earlier, but it disappeared.”

Red.

_Rogers_? Rogers is his soulmate?

Tony looks downs. 

He never cared about soulmates, anyway.

But _Rogers_ … and now his colour has disappeared? Steve no longer sees Tony’s colour?

“Can you… see the purple?” Tony asks.

Steve shakes his head.

 

_You were red and you liked me because I was blue_

_You touched me and suddenly I was a lilac sky_

_And you decided purple just wasn't for you_.

 

 

and this is a doodle I made for the fic!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! 
> 
> If you guys would prefer a happier ending, I can post another short chapter as an epilogue. 
> 
> Also, several people requested I do this AU for Steve/Bucky as well... would you like that?


	2. Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony found out Steve was his soulmate. Steve, however, has yet to figure that out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a short chapter! But it turned out to be longer than the first, haha!
> 
> It's from Steve's POV, mainly, whereas the first one was Tony's. Enjoy!

_ “True love is finding your soulmate in your best friend.” _

_ – Faye Hall _

 

“You’ve moved into the tower?” Steve asked.

Clint raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, all of us did. And Tony sent us to ask you to come in, too. Your floor is ready.”

Steve looked down, eyebrows furrowed. “But why would he give us his tower? How much rent do we have to pay?”

Natasha scoffed. “No rent. Stark is letting us live in his tower for free. It was either that or leaving us in the hellicarrier… and I have to admit, the beds in his tower are a lot more comfortable.”

“He has _silk_ sheets. I never thought I’d own a bed with silk sheets, man!” Clint added with a grin. “And we have all these training rooms, too. He customized a whole archery field for me.”

“Wow, that’s… that’s very generous of him.” Steve mused.

Clint nodded. “So, are you gonna accept the offer?”

Steve shrugged, a soft smile on his lips. “Do I even have the option to reject it?”

 

* * *

 

Tony greets them with an excited grin when they enter the common floor. Then he takes them on a tour around the tower, ending with Steve's floor.

It is breathtaking. Tony incorporated everything Steve could’ve asked for, and more. It has a nice touch to it, a feeling that takes him back to his time period. But it still has the modern aspect, somehow intertwined within. It is far superior to what was SHIELD’s attempt at an inconspicuous 40s room. 

“Thank you, Tony,” Steve whispers. The smile on his face doesn’t waver. “This is beautiful. I can’t believe you did all of this for… for us.”

Tony’s eyes soften momentarily. “I guess you guys mean more to me than you think you do,” he says, looking down. When he focuses his eyes on Steve again, the classic Stark grin returns. “I couldn’t let you guys sleep in SHIELD’s shitty rooms. Besides, this would make it easier for us to assemble when needed. And it may… I guess it might help some of us becoming better team players.”

His voice slightly hitches as he says the last sentence.

Steve feels a little… _purple_. It’s a new feeling, and he can’t place his finger on what it exactly is.

He doesn’t realize that he’s spaced out until Tony’s hesitant voice snaps him out of his haze. “Cap? You okay?”

Steve nods, managing a smile. “Yeah, sorry. Thank you for doing this, really.”

Tony smiles proudly.

 

* * *

 

As he spends more time living in the tower, Steve begins to see his teammates past his poorly put first impressions of them. Natasha, for example, turns out to be funny. Bruce has a _dirty_ sense of humour––who would have thought? Clint is very talkative. 

But Tony… Tony was another story.

And Steve had reduced him to his armour.

_Guilt_ , Steve concludes, _feels like purple_. Because whenever Tony does something that spikes his guilt, he sees purple.

But, as it turns out, guilt is not purple.

Tony Stark is.

See, Steve wasn’t one for eavesdropping––but when he overheard Pepper and Tony fighting about their colours, he couldn’t resist.

Especially when he heard the word “purple”.

“Tony, you can’t keep doing this to yourself!” Pepper exclaimed. “You have to confront him. He changed your colour, and he can’t _see_ it… maybe he just needs a small push? Something to help him see it?”

“I didn’t have a small push, Pepper!” Tony replied. He sounded wary. “I didn’t even like the guy. One day I was blue, next thing I know I’m _purple_. Then I see every fucking colour in this universe. Maybe he’s not my soulmate. Maybe it was someone else. Maybe it was one of the fucking aliens in the wormhole.”

_Tony_ _is purple?_ Steve thought. 

“Tony,” Pepper began, only to get interrupted by JARVIS

“ _Sir, Captain Rogers is at the door, he wishes to speak to you_.”

Steve nearly jumped, taken aback. When Tony opened the door, however, he brought himself to smile––albeit nervously.

“Tony, hi.” He began. “I just wanted to ask you about the… uh, the update for the shield. You said you were working on that?”

Tony seemed puzzled. “I gave that to you yesterday…” His eyes suddenly lit up with worry. “Oh my God––you don’t like it? Did I mess something up? Is it not working? Oh, I must have fucked up the magnetic forces… was it too strong? Not strong _enough_? Or was it the––”

He began to ramble, panicked.

Steve nearly smacked himself.

And he saw  _purple_. Again.

“No, no!” Steve blurted, bringing his hands up. “I didn’t––no, the shield works perfectly. Better than I expected. I meant to talk about the boots… you said you wanted to put, uh, springs or… something in the boots? To improve my jumping..? I think?”

 “Oh,” Tony paused, “I thought you said you didn’t like that because it threw you off balance. Precisely, you told me that you don’t need tech to be able to fight. Unlike some people.”

_Well_ , Steve thought, _shit_.

“I thought I could give it another go.” He said instead. “And––I didn’t mean it like that. What I said. I just meant that I’m not really good with tech. You are, of course, and that’s what makes you _Iron Man_ , but it doesn’t mean that tech makes you any worse of a fighter or..”

He trailed off at the sight of Tony’s annoyed look. 

“It’s fine, Cap,” Tony said, fake smile plastered onto his face, “You don’t have to lie to make me feel good. Anyways, I have a lot of errands to run for Stark Industries, but if you really want to try out the boots, then I’ll clear my schedule. I can do tonight.”

Steve nodded. “I’ll see you later, then.”

And that was how he had found out Tony’s colour was purple. Now he’s in the training room in his floor, waiting for Tony to come around.

So… Tony had a soulmate? 

_It must be bad_ , Steve decides. _His soulmate can’t even_ see _his colour_.

In all truth, Steve doesn’t like the boots. But he will try them again for Tony’s sake. He had brushed it off the first time, unhappy with Tony trying to force his tech onto everyone. Tony had taken it to heart, though, and that was unexpected.

Tony walks into his room with an excited grin, carrying the boots. “Cap! I can’t believe you’re down for this.”

Steve nods. “If it can assist me in battle, then I may need it. But I don’t think I’ll be using it regularly.”

Tony nods, humming, as he sets down the items. “That’s fine. They might be helpful if we fight aliens. Or dinosaurs. Do you think we’ll ever get to fight dinosaurs?”

“I hope not,” Steve answers truthfully. Tony laughs.

Steve’s breathing hitches when he sees the purple again.

He can probably confirm, now, that the purple wasn’t guilt––it was Tony.

“You’re purple.” Steve states. 

Tony stills. “You overheard my talk with Pepper?”

“Well,” _yes_ , “I figured you were purple. I kept seeing the colour when you were around, and I managed to piece it together.”

Tony turns around, eyes wide. “You can _see_ the purple?”

Steve nods, unsure why Tony appeared to be so happy about it. “Yes. It’s different, though. I could feel it at first––can you believe that?––so I didn’t realize it was a colour that belonged to someone I knew.”

He doesn’t understand Tony’s hopeful look, either.

“But your soulmate..” Steve continues hesitantly. “I overheard the last part of your talk with Pepper. It must be hard. To know your soulmate doesn’t see you.”

Tony’s smile fades.

“I just mean… I thought Peggy would be my soulmate. And before that, I thought it might be Bucky. But they weren’t. And later, Bucky’s situation became similar to yours. He found a woman who made him see almost every colour, but he couldn’t make her see them. She could see _his_ colour, though. It wasn’t enough for her to believe.”

“Yeah?” Tony rasps before clearing his throat.

“It was hard. Bucky didn’t really like her at first, but he said he couldn’t help but feel attached to her. She died,” Steve adds sadly, “during the war. Bucky was torn. But he got better, slowly.”

“That’s… sad.” Tony says. “But don’t worry about me. It’s not really affecting me that badly.”

They both know he’s lying.

Steve doesn’t know _how_ he knows. But he does.

“So!” Tony exclaims, clapping his hands. “Let’s try the boots?”

 

* * *

 

It’s July 4th.

Steve is not mentally prepared for the day.

He enjoys the holiday, really. He loves America. What he doesn’t enjoy are the jokes everyone throws at him on that day.

But there’s no escaping it, so Steve takes a deep breath and walks into the common floor.

“Good morning, America!” Clint yells as soon as he spots Steve.

Steve forces a smile. “Good morning, Clint.”

He is surprised when Natasha begins to sing USA’s national anthem. Her eyes are sharp, playful. When she’s finished singing, she adds, “Our American Captain has graced us with his presence. Happy birthday.”

Steve lets out an exhausted laugh. 

It was going to be a long day.

And it is. Steve has to attend several interviews for TV, then he has to go to Times Square to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. He’s clad in his classic Captain America suit the whole time.

He has to stay until the fireworks go off.

“Hey!” Someone whispers. “Cap!”

He turns around to see Tony wearing a hoodie, cap, and sunglasses. He’d be unrecognizable, if it weren’t for the goatee.

“Tony?”

“Come on, let’s get you out of here. We have a better of the fireworks from the Tower. Plus, we have pizza.” 

Steve smiles, and follows Tony to the tower. He pushes off the paparazzi with a quick “I’ll be back” and “I just need to grab something from the tower!”

When they walk into the tower, it’s dark.

“Tony, why is it so––”

Then the whole room lights up. 

It’s colourful.

“Happy birthday!” Everyone yells. He looks around, spots Clint, Natasha, Bruce, Sam, Rhodey, Pepper, Maria Hill, and Helen Cho. They’re all grinning, wearing July 4th hats.

“Come on, I set this whole thing up for you!” Tony drags him, grinning. “And for the first time, I’m not lying. I actually did most of this. Pepper helped.”

Pepper rolls her eyes, smiling. 

“I––” Steve wants to respond, but he’s distracted by all the _colours_. Colours that he’d never seen before. Colours that make him see the world entirely different. He exhales slowly. “Thank you.”

Tony shows him the cake he’d ordered. It's made of four levels, each one decorated to look like the American flag. The top layer has his face drawn onto it. 

Then he sees the pizza, which was also, somehow, coloured to look like the flag. The boxes read “ _Happy Birthday, Cap!_ ”

“Before we start eating,” Tony says, pointing to Clint, who was reaching for a slice of pizza. “Let’s go see the fireworks. JARVIS, take us to the roof, will you?”

They follow Tony into the elevator. 

As soon as they walk out onto the roof, the fireworks start.

They write _July 4th_ , _Happy Birthday, Murica!_ and _Happy Birthday, Stevie!_

Steve looks at Tony, grinning. “Thank you. This is beautiful. I… I don’t know what to say. With all these colours––”

The _colours_.

Suddenly it all makes sense––Tony seeing the colours after falling from the wormhole, asking Steve if he saw purple, Steve  _feeling_ the purple.. And Steve had been oblivious to all the signs.

_Tony_ is his soulmate? 

“The colours?” Tony prods.

Steve looks to Tony, letting out a breathless laugh. “I see everything.”

Tony’s eyes light up.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that! Happier endings all around. Please let me know what you think!


End file.
